Ships have taken drilling mud to offshore rigs for many years. Traditional systems used square tanks with jets to keep the mud circulating. Mud would get trapped in the edges of the tanks. The invention has been developed to enable complete circulation of high specific gravity soluble fluid, such as liquid mud while a ship is underway from land to a rig without trapping mud in corners or crevices of the tanks.
The present invention is related to a vessel containing a unique circulation system for the transport and circulation of drilling muds, a vessel comprising:
(a) a hull having-a deck with deck connectors; and
(b) a high specific gravity soluble fluid, such as liquid mud transfer system and high specific gravity soluble fluid circulation system comprising;
i. a transfer system comprising:
(a) a supply line;
(b) a tank connected to supply line having a sloping double bottom;
(c) a ring contained within tank and connected to supply line having nozzles for spraying liquid mud into tank;
(d) a control means connected to supply line for opening and closing supply line;
(e) moving high specific gravity soluble fluid from a pressurized source into the supply line; and
(f) a suction line having an additional suction branch for the circulation line with one end in tank and a sump for removing high specific gravity soluble fluid from tank through a transfer pump to deck connector; and
ii. a high specific gravity soluble fluid circulation system comprising:
(a) the suction line providing high specific gravity soluble fluid from the tank to a circulation pump;
(b) a circulation pump for pressurizing the ring;
(c) a connecting line to move high specific gravity soluble fluid from the circulation pump to the supply line;
(d) high specific gravity soluble fluid is pumped through the supply line into the ring; and
(e) nozzles removably attached to ring to spray high specific gravity soluble fluid from ring into tank.
An object of the invention is to prevent the consolidation of high specific gravity soluble fluid, such as liquid mud in a tank for transport and minimize the stagnation zone in the tank, thereby allowing the transfer of a more homogeneous liquid to the user of the high specific gravity soluble fluid which can be liquid mud for drilling.